Aug 6: The Tigers have announced that Solak has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Toledo. As Solak does not have the necessary service time to reject the assignment, he’ll likely remain in the organization through the end of the season as a depth option for the Tigers in the minor leagues.
Aug 4: The Tigers announced Friday that they’ve claimed lefty Andrew Vasquez off waivers from the Phillies and, in a corresponding move, designated infielder/outfielder Nick Solak for assignment.
Vaasquez, 29, was a somewhat surprising DFA following the trade deadline. He’s pitched to a sparkling 2.27 ERA in 39 2/3 innings this season, although the rest of his numbers don’t exactly signify that type of dominance. The lefty’s 20% strikeout rate is a few percentage points south of the league average, while his 8.2% walk rate and 43% ground-ball rate are right are both roughly average. Vasquez has stranded 86.6% of the baserunners he’s allowed this season — a fluky high number that’s likely bound for some regression. Fielding-independent metrics peg him more in the low-4.00s than in the low 2.00s.
That said, he was still an effective reliever for the Phils, and it was a genuine surprise to see him dropped from the 40-man roster over other DFA candidates. It’s not particularly surprising that a team with high waiver priority placed a claim. Only six teams (A’s, Royals, Rockies, Nationals, White Sox, Cardinals) had a higher waiver priority than Detroit. That group apparently passed on putting in a claim, but the Tigers will plug Vasquez, who’s out of minor league options, directly into the big league bullpen.
If things work out for Vasquez in Detroit, he could be a long-term piece of the relief corps. He’ll finish the season with one-plus year of big league service time, meaning Detroit can control him for another five years.
Solak, 28, continues to bounce throughout the league via the DFA circuit. He’s been with the Rangers, Reds, Mariners, White Sox, Braves and Tigers since November, never making it through waivers despite frequent DFAs. He was once a well-regarded prospect — a bat-first player whose defensive home was up for debate. Questions about Solak’s glove still persist, and his bat never developed as hoped at the Major League level. He’s a career .252/.327/.372 hitter in 974 big league plate appearances and is batting .226/.346/.363 between three Triple-A clubs this season.
With the trade deadline now passed, Solak will be placed on waivers once again and made available to all 29 other clubs.
This was a mistake by Philly. Vasquez is solid.
Don’t get why Vazquez was sent out, but they held on to guys like drew ellis on the 40 man.
Vasquez was on borrowed time. Perhaps he wasn’t bad, but you can’t get by for too long with basically only one pitch.
Mariano Rivera.
I mean, yeah, if it’s the best pitch in the history of baseball, which it probably was.
Mo was the exception not the rule by far. And it was more a testament to just how dominant of a pitch his cutter was. A miniscule amount of pitchers in the history of the sport have been able to get by with one pitch especially with the success Mo had.
You have a point DarkSide. I don’t think he will ever be a major impact player, but he was pretty reliable in limited use. I think the Phillies bullpen was deep enough to utilize him well.
Good little pick up ! Add him in the trade for Lorenzen ….
Wow!! An ERA of 2.27 this year in 30 games. 39 innings. Usually the guys we pick up having an ERA over 6.
Yeah, but FIP has him in the low 4s so hold your horses Lou!
Even low 4s is league average, at least. Very strange that he was DFA.
His success this year seems to b unsustainable considering his skillset. That said even with inevitable regression he seems to b at least an average RP. Does seem odd to b DFA’d at this point.
But in the actual game, your FIP is meaningless. ERA rules.
ERA can b flukie like RBIs or BABIP. Not that it should b ignored, but luck or right situations can often skew stats, where metrics show that those #s are unsustainable. Still think he should have been given a bit more time tho to see how those #s played out.
I’m still thinking another Phillie Noah Song would have been a good long term investment but I don’t hate this pickup. Keep tweaking things, but in the offseason its time to add some young impact bats.
I’d say the Tigers need to pick up a good second baseman. That, along with Malloy and Keith, should do wonders for the Tigers offense.
They just traded for a 2B/SS – assuming they’ll give him a shot very soon.
If you meant Lee that kids in A ball he won’t be up for a while. Eddys Leonard is closer but has to prove himself in AAA
Scouting reports say his arm is weak even by 2B standards, so he’s certainly not in the picture for SS (I hope).
Keith has been moved to 2B, so they need a 3B.
I wonder if he stays at 2B though. He has a gun for an arm and could easily handle that aspect of 3B. We’re the other aspects of his defence that bad at 3B? I didn’t read anything on why they made the change
@Thono if u look at what upcoming free agent 2B market looks like after options exercised, it’s rather bleak as it was last year. That’s why Mariners opted to plug hole trading for Wong last year. There just are very few good options.
The Rangers were wise to look to the future and grab both Seager and Semien a few yrs back and get ahead of the upcoming weak 2B market that was looming.
Are Solaks numbers better than Torkelsons?
Torks having a decent year. Leading the team in HR, RBI and 2B. Getting there
Spencer Torkelson is a good defensive 1B. He might hit better on a better team with players on base and protection. The Tigers don’t need bat first players.
They would have had to trade for Song since the RSox chose to take him back.
Analytics vs eye test
Well, the Phillies tried to sneak him through waivers because he was out of options. Seems like a nice pickup. Pitchers usually get better under Fetter’s tutelage, so there may be a bright future ahead for Vasquez.
And they could have hired the Superfife. None of this would have been an issue……
Sad.
Hey, I’ve already has sexual harassment training……
Is there some reason he wasn’t just included in the Lorenzen trade? I’m sure I’m just clueless about this stuff . . .
You’re not clueless. It makes sense. The Tigers didn’t win the Lorenzen trade IMO.
watching the Rays game and seeing Paredes stat line. So frustrating….
We even found a way to screw up Avila’s best trade and really only good trade. Harris letting Candy walk was a mistake as well.
Not really. You cant be certain HARRIS would have remembered to trade Candelario.
I see what you did there……and I like it.
Funny…however, if Candy and Paredes were in the lineup and having comparable years to this year, would this team have been in contention at the trade deadline? Pretty good chance they are right there and then maybe they are buyers at the deadline…I know its water under the bridge, but 2B and 3B have been the two biggest revolving doors and we had two pretty good options in those spots and we gave them away.
Are the Phillies going for a 6 man rotation for a while now ?
went out the window this was an absolute idiotic move by Dave D. get rid of Vasquez. a quality arm that has performed pretty decently for the Phillies bullpen
The ability to build a solid bullpen has always been Dombrowski’s weak area. He’s improved in Philly, but not yet perfected.
DD likes power arms.
Manning looks to be broken, so they need to get him fixed up quick. Tipping pitches ? Who kn0ows, but they’ll probably keep trooping him out. Oh well, it’s a work in progress season.
Vasquez has already lost his cherry, two runs and counting, oh well.
Harris is the smartest guy in the room. He’s alone in his office.
I don’t care if it’s flukie or not, I’ll take an 2.25 ERA all day long! I’m sure FIP, BABIP and ERA+ aren’t in love with this guy, but seriously, this is a great addition. Scott Harris has been getting absolutely killed in the media here in Michigan. But he is doing a few things will and is a damn site better than ANYTHING AL Avila did for this franchise!
Phil Maton is worse than any player Al Avila acquired.
This dude’s 3.7 bb/9 career mark will rear it’s ugly head at some point, regression incoming. Best of luck to him though.